Been doin' more cards!!! This time wedding cards, both Sue and I were running low due to a record number of November/December weddings. We stole Arianne's idea of buying the cards already made, and then "jazzing" them up. 
Our newest game??? Clothing removal. Recently Katie learned how to remove her clothing and has made this her newest pursuit in life. I was unaware she knew how to remove clothing until one morning she came to me with only a diaper on, which by the way she was trying to remove. She had already removed her shirt and pants.
Pants removal is easy!
In all fairness to my children I must admit I make my own mess. They explode with Legos, I explode with craft stuff. Only difference, about 30 years in age.
For Christmas Lauren "begged" for newest, hottest, coolest toy for girls, a cupcake maker. Mommy said "no" too messy, and requires a lot of adult supervision. To whom does a girl turn to when mommy says "no?" Grandma of course. She delivered! It was the first toy Lauren wanted to play with on Christmas day, and mommy feeling the Christmas spirit agreed to adult supervision. 
An apron is a must for baking. Lauren's apron says "princess" but I was informed it really should say "diva." Lauren is mixing the batter for a cupcake.
Next it is on to icing. The cupcake is placed on the turn stand, and the tube of icing is pointed down ward. To operate the cupcake maker, you push down on the pink lever, which squeezes the icing out, and rotates the cupcake. 
Second try, managed to get frosting on the cupcake, sort of.......
This is the box with showing perfect cupcakes, that are perfectly frosted. I wonder what we did wrong?
Mark found my "Exhibit" stamp, you know the one I use to mark court exhibits, or rather used to mark court exhibits, that was a previous life after all, in any event Mark is ready to be entered in as an exhibit, probably in his own trial for destruction of property, specifically MINE!
Every Sunday as I dress I put on my battle gear, well at least my mental battle gear, for the weekly war that is Sacrament meeting. Take three small children, a confined space, and the instruction to be quiet, and the war zone is set.
Last Sunday when we arrived a church I spotted the perfect bench for us and proceeded to settle in. We were sitting right in front of the Hopkinson's, which fortunately for us have an good sense of humor. As we sat down I told them to prepare for entrainment in sacrament meeting. They asked if they would be entertained even if the speaker was boring, I promised them we would take care of that. I sat on the end of the bench on the inside, with Katie next to me, then Lauren then Mark. Courtney arrived shortly thereafter and Lauren moved to sit next to Courtney, which resulted in Mark moving toward me. When Mark got within about 8 inches of me, Katie let forth this blood curdling scream, heard throughout the chapel. She was not about to have Mark usurp her Mommy territory. This left the Hopkinson's in a bit of shock that such a small child could produce a very loud noise.
Next it was on to the fruit loops. Katie and Mark each got their own bag of fruit loops to munch on during sacramenting meeting. Only problem, lately fruit loops tend to fly back and forth as they throw them at each other. This left a debris field of fruit loops covering the two benches ahead of us and two benches behind us. Good news for the Hopkinsons, unexpected treats for their teenagers, and they fought over the fruit loops that ended up on their side of the bench. Then Mark decided that every fruit loop on the floor needed to be smashed to smithereens, hence worsening the debris field.
Next Katie decided that Sacrament meeting needed to be a shoe and sock free environment, and proceeded to remove said articles. My attempt to keep them on her was met with much resistance, and high pitched squealing of course. It then became a consistent game of getting toys out of the bag for each child, returning toys to the bag, or settling disputes over toys that one child had and another wanted. I was and always am in consistent motion during sacrament meeting.
Finally with 15 minutes of Sacrament meeting to go, Katie decided she had reached the breaking point and began to cry uncontrollably. I removed her to the hall, where we remained for the duration. After the closing prayer we returned to the chapel to clean up the mess from our battle, only to start anew next week.....
I realize its January, but what better time than to practice our scary faces for Halloween, made all the better by our missing teeth!
What could be better than dragging your brother and sister around the kitchen floor on a blanket? Oh, the game we create during the home bound days of Christmas vacation.
Arianne and I went to Swiss Days in September when she was hear for a visit. Swiss Days is a gold mine of craftiness, so our main goal, STEAL THE IDEAS OF OTHERS. Yes we were successful. This is one of the cute craft things I saw. I liked it so much I made one for myself and Linda got one for Christmas. She saw the one I made for myself, and not knowing I was making one for her for Christmas said "Gee you should make me one for Christmas." I got the look of death on my face and she said "Oh you are making me one for Christmas aren't you?"
Yesterday I wrote about how Mark needs a license to drive, well Katie does not. She got a push car for Christmas and she drives all around the kitchen like a pro, usually with purse and cell phone in tow. Watch out she might be the next Indy 500 driver, just as long as the color pink is involved.
For Christmas all the kids in Rick's family gave Jeff, aka dad, aka papa, and book with pictures of the grand kids, plus a few of the kids, and believe it or not only a few of his MANY random sayings. In addition to giving Jeff the book we all got copies as well.
Mark and Lauren LOVE the book. They like seeing the pictures of themselves and their cousins, but mostly they like papa's sayings. I caught them on the couch, with Lauren reading the book to Mark and both of them chortling with laughter.
Some of their favorites include:
"I'm gonna eat your face."
"I will mess you up."
"Don't get all wound up in your underwear."
Mother nature has not been smiling on us lately she has been burring us in snow. I know its fun to play in, we need the water, but seriously, the kids could ski to school, its just that out of control. I have no less than about three feet in my yard.
Good news that New Years resolution to work out more, no gym membership necessary, just an adequate amount of snow and a good snow shovel.
The kids of course think the big piles of snow made by snow plows, 4-wheelers with plows, and hand shoveling are perfect for conquering. In fact Lauren calls them "The great wall of Utah"
The object to the left in the picture is my grill. I guess I should be able to use it again by maybe August...?When mommy was pregnant with me she went purse shopping in NYC, so of course I learned at a very early age the value of a purse to a girl.
This is Courtney's purse. She made the common mistake that so many of my relatives and friends make, she left her purse within my reach. You know the rules, "finders keepers, looser weepers." and "possession is 9/10 of the law." Naturally I had to survey what Courtney carries in her purse.
Darn! Not much luck, Courtney had the zipper closed, and I have not mastered the zipper yet. I'll bet she had all sorts of good stuff in their like lip gloss, her phone, her camera.... Now it is time to try the purse on for size.
It fits real NICE. Don't know if I am willing to give it up...
Went to the mall, couldn't resist the ride on cars that don't work when quarters are placed in them, hence upsetting both child and parent. (Child happy in this picture, doesn't know yet ride is a scam)
We have been blessed with an abundance of snow this winter and depending on your perspective, it is either good or bad. Good if your my children who want to play in the snow, bad if your me who has to dress them and/or shovel the driveway.
After the first significant snow fall they demanded to be gussied up in their finest snow attire, which of course took no less than 15 minutes to locate all items, and properly equip said children. The entire time I am thinking "Your going to stay outside at least 1/2 hour to justify all the work to get you outfitted!" My secret plan if they didn't, LOCK THE DOORS.
Good news for mommy, they stayed outside an hour and a half, completely justifying in my mind the time commitment to get them dressed. They also discovered our driveway has the perfect slope for sledding. Sled away!
This last summer Rick went to a fundraiser and one of the items being auctioned off was a Christmas package for the Nutcracker. The package included four box seat tickets, a tour of the back stage during intermission, the opportunity to sit back stage during the second act, and admission to the Sugar Plum party after the performance. Rick knew Lauren needed this package, so he bid and won, and our little dancer was going to get the opportunity of a life time.
We asked Grandma and Courtney to join us and believe it or not they willingly agreed! It was girls day out!
This is Linda, Lauren and myself on stage for the Sugar Plum Party after the performance. We did go back stage during intermission, and sat there for the second act, however the costumes, and sets are copyrighted, so we were not allowed to take any pictures back stage. It was an incredible experience. We could not see much of the dancing on stage, but just watching the dancers warm up and go on and come off stage was intriguing.
Even Grandma and Courtney agreed it was a once in a life time experience.
